1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a suspension assembled within a recording medium drive or storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) so as to support a head slider opposed to a recording medium. In particular, the invention relates to a suspension for a head slider, comprising a base plate; a load beam extending forward from the tip or front end of the base plate; a rigid portion defined in the load beam at a location spaced from the base plate by a predetermined distance; and an elastic deformable portion defined in the load beam between the rigid portion and the base plate for exhibiting a predetermined elasticity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A high speed airflow is generated along the surface of a magnetic recording disk during the rotation of the magnetic recording disk in a hard disk drive (HDD). A head suspension assembly is exposed to the high speed airflow in the HDD. The high speed airflow causes vibrations based on torsional deformation and/or flexural deformation at the rigid portion of a load beam in the head suspension assembly.
A plate member is overlaid on the surface of the load beam at the rigid portion so as to prevent the vibrations based on torsional deformation and/or flexural deformation. The plate member is made of a polyimide film, a steel plate, or the like. An improved rigidity of the rigid portion serves to suppress the vibrations based on torsional deformation and/or flexural deformation in the load beam.
The magnetic recording disks should still further rotate at a higher rotation speed in the HDD. The influence of the airflow is expected to increase. The plate member is further required to have a higher rigidity to surely prevent the vibrations based on torsional deformation and/or flexural deformation in the aforementioned manner. If the improved rigidity induces an increase in the thickness of the plate member, the weight of the load beam increases. The head suspension assembly may suffer from a deteriorated accuracy in positioning.